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THE LONG SHOT: Popular mechanics

“My God, they’ve thrown in everything but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Quoted by writer Anthony Holden in his gossipy history “The Oscars,” this was one publicist’s dismayed response to the 1990...

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THE LONG SHOT: The more you know

Here’s something I’ll bet a lot of you wouldn’t have guessed: once upon a time, when my pants were short and my South African accent heavy, I was a very good Oscar pundit. I won every pool going. I...

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THE LONG SHOT: Cartoon network

As the year winds down, and critics and entertainment journalists search for neat blanket tags with which to label the year that was, “the year of animation” is a phrase that is getting increasingly...

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THE LONG SHOT: The next best thing

As the season hits its stride, and precursors turn murky perceptions of pack leaders and stragglers into harder realities, I find myself wondering how I would fill out my ballot if I were an Academy...

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THE LONG SHOT: Four to the floor

“It might as well rain until September,” wrote Carole King in her jaunty 1960s ditty of that title, an ode to summertime breakup blues that may as well have been composed for the autumnally-activated...

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THE LONG SHOT: Hollywood fights back

I may be looking out at my snow-caked garden as I write this, but it was in the spirit of spring-cleaning that I revised my nomination predictions this morning, ridding myself of most of the clinging...

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THE LONG SHOT: A little bit of English

Yesterday, while talking with one of my sane friends whose thoughts drift to film awards perhaps one day a year, the conversation turned to the BAFTAs, which announce the nominations for their 2009...

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THE LONG SHOT: The pre-nomination shuffle

This, ladies and gentlemen, will be the last Long Shot column I write before the 2009 Academy Award nominations are announced, and it’s not just because it’s the column’s 17th week that the well of...

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THE LONG SHOT: Now what?

A whole 31 days ahead of the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, the race already feels like it’s winding down. Of the precursors, only BAFTA and the lesser guilds (sorry, WGA, but you brought irrelevance...

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THE LONG SHOT: Happy Oscar (War Is Over)

So this is Oscar. And what have you done? Speaking for myself, lately, not a hell of a lot. In the three weeks that this column has been on hiatus – apologies to the handful of you who missed it – it’s...

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THE LONG SHOT: I’m just here for the movies

“You’re the Oscar guys, aren’t you?” asked the spike-heeled PR officer upon eyeing the press badge dangling from my neck, her voice exuding the steely sweetness they teach you on the first day of...

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THE LONG SHOT: Bait, switch

Whether you choose to believe them or not – and speaking for myself, I don’t quite – the media powers that be have currently reduced the 2010 Best Picture race to just two titles: “The Social Network”...

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THE LONG SHOT: When you wish upon a star

“Mila Kunis is so winning Best Supporting Actress this year,” remarked an independent filmmaker to me over drinks today, referring, of course, to the 27 year-old’s sly breakout turn in Darren...

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THE LONG SHOT: What becomes of the broken-hearted?

(A day later than usual — apologies.) After the London Film Festival raised its curtain last night with a typically flashy European premiere for Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go,” this morning’s papers...

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THE LONG SHOT: Categorical denial

Wild-eyed, table-banging outbursts — sometimes of enthusiasm, more often of outrage — are an essential part of the floor show at any Oscar viewing party, but I’ve rarely seen one more unhinged than a...

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THE LONG SHOT: British reserve

“The British are coming!” crowed screenwriter Colin Welland from the Oscar stage in 1982, hoisting aloft his just-awarded awarded statuette for “Chariots of Fire” – and anticipating one of the bigger...

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THE LONG SHOT: Waiting for the miracle

(From here on out, my nomination predictions will be updated weekly to coincide with this column. Check them out here.) Tweed-coated and steam-breathed, winter formally arrived in my corner of the...

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THE LONG SHOT: When you’re strange

(Updated predictions available here.) I shan’t often find room for Gaspar Noé’s name in a space ostensibly dedicated to the Oscar race, so bear with me if this seems an unlikely opening gambit, but...

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THE LONG SHOT: Critical mass

Guy’s updated Oscar predictions here. Just one week on from the first formal awards announcements of the season, the Oscar season may still be taking its first steps, but my personal interest in the...

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THE LONG SHOT: Follow the leader

[Updated Oscar predictions here.] Hey, have you heard of this movie called “The Social Network?” You should probably check it out. It’s about Facebook and stuff and it’s supposed to be really good. So...

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